A different kind of group ride

[Altema]

I did it again. Got myself invited to a silly gas moped and scooter group ride, and I went, lol.
I'm not sure if this one was inspired by the similar ride in Connecticut a month or so ago, but this ride seemed more challenging for an e-bike than the prior ride. It was stated that all vehicles must be able to "hold AT LEAST 30mph, for AT LEAST 30 miles", and that's how they worded it on the invitation. So who was there? Seven gas mopeds. Two souped up Razor mini dirt bikes with 6,000 watt motors. One 60mph King Cobra e-scooter. Two Sur Rons with controller upgrades. And one Monday motorbike. Then some idiot shows up and pulls a Rad folding e-bike out of the trunk of his car, looking like he brought the wrong bike 🤣🤣

Yeah, that was me looking out of place, but interestingly, the owner of the gas moped shop had heard of me and was telling others about the RadMini. The ride started though, and it no longer seemed like the idiot was that much out of step. Everyone was super nice, and I was happy to go against the perception that gas and electric riders oppose each other (like pickup trucks and Teslas). I made some new friends and acquaintances. The RadMini did well cruising at 35mph, and although the Sur Rons are obviously much faster, the lead moped topped out around 32mph-ish, so I had no trouble keeping up. What did concern me was sustaining that speed for miles at a time, and the effect of that riding style on my range. The motor never overheated or showed signs of stress, and once I got up to speed it only took about 800 to 1200 watts to hold it there. To play it safe with the range I used the dual Tesla battery setup, and it did not disappoint. Although I didn't intentionally abuse the battery, I didn't try to conserve it either, and I stayed with the crew when they took off from lights. The AVERAGE speed for the ride was 20mph including stops, my own max speed for the night was 36.7mph, and after 30.6 miles of riding in traffic, my battery level was 46%.

There really was no downside to this trip, and despite a moped throttle cable snapping and a gas can falling off one of the bikes, we made it safely with no incident. I did lose my leftover pizza crossing some rough railroad tracks, and that was the worst of the night for me 😊

[AtLarge]

Looks like fun!  Good turnout. 

[John Rose]

I did lose my leftover pizza crossing some rough railroad tracks, and that was the worst of the night for me 😊

As long as the pizza you already ate stayed with you, I count that as an overall positive experience.

[Hania]

Glad you completed your journey without any incident.
I was also part of a group ride in which members brought different bike types. I was on my BMW Vision AMBY electric bike. In the start, I thought that I would not be able to sync my speed with the group but later on the bike did well.